Operation Pill Nation Nets Midtown Pain Management

In an effort dubbed "Operation Pill Nation," federal and local authorities executed the largest crack down on pill mills in South Florida to date. South Florida has become a hotbed of shady pain clinics dolling out prescriptions for powerful and addictive pain killers, and while most of these clinics are concentrated in Broward and Palm Beach Counties, officials also arrested several people this morning at the Midtown Pain Management Clinic.

WSVN reports that officers from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency in conjunction with both Miami-Dade and City of Miami Police raided the Midtown Miami Pharmacy, or as it's identified on its signage Miami Pain Management, this morning, located on North Miami Ave and 38th Street near, but not in, the Midtown Miami development.

A doctor and several others, believed to be clients, were taking into custody. Any suspect with an outstanding warrant was taken into custody, while others were released but will still face charges.

Several other arrests occurred after raids in Broward and Palm Beach. Zvi "Harry" Perper, the son of Broward County Medical Examiner Joshua Perper, was one of the more notable arrests this morning during the crackdown.

Update: Dr. Jeffrey Lipman, president of Midtown Pain Management, was the doctor arrested in the Miami sweep. According to The Herald he's charged with "six counts of drug trafficking for selling pills to undercover agents posing as patients without legitimate medical problems."

Lipman was originally targeted because he ordered more than 288,560 during an 8 months span. Undercover officers posed as patients visiting the clinic, and Lipman freely wrote prescriptions for bogus medical problems.